Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores is engaged with the team on a daily basis - even when he's not in town, Palace Sports & Entertainment CEO Dennis Mannion says.Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

AUBURN HILLS, MI -- A top employee of Tom Gores claims his boss isn't the absentee owner of the Detroit Pistons that some critics might make him out to be.

Dennis Mannion, CEO of Palace Sports and Entertainment, said Wednesday during a media tour of the venue that Gores is in contact with the team on a daily basis, especially now that it faces coaching uncertainty.

And Mannion claims that engagement from Gores will likely only intensify as it decides what direction it should go after Sunday's firing of Maurice Cheeks.

"Every time I read something that says he's absent I think 'What are you, crazy?," Mannion said "He's phenomenal; he has 35 companies.

"I think he touches all of them - this one in particular with regularity."

When Mannion refereed to "this one," he also meant the entire Palace Sports & Entertainment operation that includes Gores properties like The Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival.

Mannion said Gores, a 49-year-old billionaire who lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., is so engaged that he's texting him on a daily basis about topics ranging from concert accommodations to concession stand menu items.

"Let's put it this way: Some of us are dominate right brain and some of us are dominate left," Mannion said. "I think he's dominate both. So we end up with this guy who is doing the numbers, but adding creativity to it, too."

Mannion added that Gores, who grew up near Flint, isn't the kind of owner that "would hammer you on the return of investment right away," but always has the bottom line in the back of his mind.

Since Gores bought the Pistons and Palace Sports & Entertainment empire in 2011, Mannion estimates his boss has likely invested more than $40 million into the Palace of Auburn Hills alone.

Asked if Palace Sports & Entertainment is concerned about lackluster attendance at Pistons games, Mannion expressed optimism that the team's young talent will eventually help it get crowds back.

The Pistons, as of Wednesday, had a 22-29 record, were winners of three straight games and just a game behind Charlotte for the eighth seed in the playoffs.

"While we haven't been playing great basketball, we have had an opportunity to put ourselves in a position to be able to market and keep those people down the road," Mannion said. "And that's a good thing.

"We have a database and can go back and say 'We know you were at the Brooklyn Nets game; we know you enjoyed X, Y and X, and we'd love to have you back again."

Mannion points to a 33 percent jump in season tickets sales during the preseason - after the acquisitions of players Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith - as a reason to be hopeful for a winning resurgence.

In the meantime, The Palace of Auburn Hills' recent improvements to its facility can only help entice more visitors to check the venue out for all types of events, Mannion said.

"It's on parallel tracks," Mannion said." I think the business side and the basketball side are both growing out. We have a super-young business staff, and they're learning the ropes as we go along, too."